As graduate employees at New York University began their second week on the picket lines, AFT president Edward J. McElroy on Nov. 16 sent a strong letter to NYU president John Sexton, asking him to "do the right thing" and return to the bargaining table to negotiate a successor agreement to the contract that expired this summer.

The Graduate Student Organizing Committee, which is affiliated with the United Auto Workers and represents approximately 1,000 teaching and research assistants, was elected bargaining agent in 2000. At that time, the National Labor Relations Board ruled the assistants were employees with the right to bargain and GSOC negotiated its first contract in 2002.

In 2004, with a mostly Bush-appointed majority on the board, the NLRB reversed itself on the question of whether graduate assistants at private institutions are students or employees. NYU wasted no time in pulling its recognition when the contract expired on Aug. 31.

"It is unfortunate," McElroy wrote, "that the NYU administration has forced GSOC into this position rather than continuing the collective bargaining relationship, which had begun the process of improving working conditions for graduate employees and thereby improving the educational environment for graduate employees and undergraduate students alike."

GSOC is determined to defend its authority to bargain with NYU. Members staged a back-to-school rally in August with support from its sister AFT union on campus, the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Technical Staff, other international unions and community organizations. More than 70 leaders were arrested then, including AFL-CIO president John Sweeney and AFT vice president William Scheuerman.

On Nov. 9, GSOC stopped all teaching, grading and advising. Sexton sent a letter to parents telling them to urge their children to cross the picket line. Hundreds of faculty have supported the strike by moving classes off campus. The dispute is attracting extensive coverage by the NYU student newspaper, which has been supportive of GSOC, and New York City papers. [Barbara McKenna]

November 17, 2005